Hello Young Scholars!
We have had some excellent discussions on the idea of what it means to be an American, and your ideas and thouhts are AMAZING. I am so excited to be a part of this year. I found an article online that deals with the labels we, as Americans, put on each other and ourselves. It talks about something called the Roadshow, they are talking about a television show called Antiques Roadshow where people bring in their antiques and professionals tell them how much they are worth. Here is the article link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/bismarck_200504A16.html
There is only one question this time, so I want you to put serious thought and effort into it. Responses are due by Friday, September 2nd at 3:30pm.
Question:
Do ethnic labels matter? Why or why not? Why do we, as Americans, always seem to be labeling ourselves and each other? What do you think of the reponses of the "American Indians" in this article, how do you feel about the terms "American Indian" and "Native American"?
(Ok, students, I know that's really more than one question, but you still have to answer all of them.)
Good Luck, and I can't wait to read your posts!
Mrs. H
Yes it does matter,it shows who you are.To find out who ethnic group is better.And it shows what racist you are.It was a well reponses and long to read.It's putting them in a ethnic group,but you know who they are when you here somebody say "American Indian" and "Native American" like somebody calling me a "N".It's not right but somebody always going to say that.
ReplyDeleteI dont think that ethnic lables matter at all. Its just a lable thats giving to you for who you are. We are all the same no matter what color or ethnic. We lable each other for different reason because many people come from different backgrounds.(weather its native american, puerto rican, African american an cocashion) Were all one. I feel that American indian an Native American are the same thing. One could just be a more proper way to label someone. Everyone has different opinions.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, ethnic labeling should be a thing of the past. The bottomline is, we are all humans and color is only skin deep.What makes the color differential is only a small gene. The main reason Americans label people is by how the behave and their backgrounds and their culture.I think labeling is ridiculous. At the end of the day,we are all humanbeings who do things the same way. Some Indians prefer American Indian because, they feel it's a big part of their history or heritage others prefer Native American because of political reasons. Whether, you are Black,White,Asian,Hispanic,we are all humans thats the most important thing. I really hate labelling and do not think it plays a factor in the life cycle. Now most companies in their job availablity ads, state they do not discriminate by race because, I think its pointless to set people aside due to their skin color or label.This should stop.
ReplyDeleteYes and no, because some people take offence to some of the other names that we call them, and yes because it shows who you are, meaning it shows that your not just an American but your a native America. What I think why is to show that we are diverse, we are not just one race. We provide many races. American Indian does sound a little harsh becuase it seems like we take control of them, as of Native American it sounds like thier native to Americn, but i think we should let them decide on how they want to be called so we dont offend anyone.
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ReplyDeleteEthnic labels do matter. Modern people would find it more difficult to discover their ethnic background or family history. Americans label themselves because it makes them feel better and gives them a sense of identity. I believe the responses from the American Indians in the article were oversensitive, however I also believe we should respect whatever they want to be called. The terms American Indian and Native American help people from different cultures describe and identify themselves. It should depend on what each person wants to be called as an individual.
ReplyDeleteTo be honest, no, I don't think ethnic labels matter whatsoever. If we all live in the same place (America), then we are all Americans, although i don't think that there is any wrong in the terms if it isn't being used in an offensive way, because the label may be given by someone who only intends to describe race in a non-offensive manner.
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ReplyDeleteI feel like ethnic labels shouldn't matter anymore, but they still do. We, as Americans, do label people by ethnicity still and it isn't right. It shouldn't matter what skin color people are, what matters is the choices they make. I don't think Native American should be offensive, if anything it honors them and gives them the credit of being the first to inhabit the North American land mass.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe ethnic labels matter. I think every one spends too much time trying to divide us as Americans. As Americans, we always seem to be labeling ourselves because it is part of who we are. some people don't want to forget were they came from. It is up to each individual what they want to be called. The terms don't affect me because i am neither a Native American or American Indian i think we should all be called just "Americans".
ReplyDeleteDo labels matter. No they do not because a person is a person. Us as Americans aways label other people, because we are not like other people not saying we are better them we are all different in all of our ways. I feel like your turn American Indian or Native American are fine, if it hurt anyone's feelings they should say something
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ReplyDeleteLabels do not matter at all. People are people no matter what their color or ethnicity is. I think the response was kind of shocking for what they wanted to be called. I think American Indian is the proper tearm for indians because Native means original inhabitants of a particular place. Native Americans were here way before the first Americans came here.
ReplyDeleteEthnic labels have always been a very controversial topic. I do not like ethnic labels because in many instances it may be disrespectful to cauterize a diverse culture with a single label. The ethnic individual may or may not agree with the ethnic label, so therefore, we may be offensive without even knowing. I prefer to understand the individual first and refer to them as their choice of label or not at all for fear of being offensive. While the government may have to use a label to be inclusive in a group, the label should be the most generic and the least offensive. This label should be decided by the ethnic group.
ReplyDeleteIn our society, we generalize by giving an ethnic label because we don't understand the cultural diversity of an ethnic group. We do it sometimes to be derogatory, other times when trying to be respectful, both of which may be ill received by the ethnic individual.
In the article, an American Indian said, "We were enslaved as American Indians, we were colonized as American Indians, and we will gain our freedom as American Indians and then we can call ourselves anything we damn please." I believe from the responses that if a person’s ancestry had to persevere so much to gain independence, an ethnic label should be personal preference. Many strongly disagree with the term "Native American" because they feel it is a government term used to describe all the prisoners of the United States. I think that ethnicity does in fact matter while ethnic labels should only be carefully used in a limited fashion.
I do think that ethnic labels matter, because we all come from different backgrounds. I think that we lable each other because we don't understand each other. We all come from different areas, and if don't have an open mind our going to label each other. I feel that everyone going to feel different on the term "American Indian" and "Native American". To me i would refer them as both just to make both sides happy.
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it matters because it is like taking away a person's history. I think people put labels on each other because it shows who they are and it tells about their history. It really doesn't bother me what I call them, but I feel I should call them what they want to be called which is by their tribe name.
ReplyDeleteI feel ethnic lables are nessersary only depending on the situation. Understanding we want to represent and be proud of our heritage. Individually I feel like we can lable ourselves ethnically. But as a whole people we are all the same. Maybe we have different morales or skin tones but we are all a part of something more. I feel like the lables "american indian" and "native american" are just. Once again it is just describing our heritage of being native to america.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you should be labled by what type of ethic you are. You should be judged by your personality. Everybody is the same on the inside. We only look different on the outside. Ethic lables might be nessisary. in some cases, but over all I don't think that they are very needeed.
ReplyDeleteI believe that our country is still living up the christian values. Maybe not to the full aspect but the majority of it. They where molded, motivated and unified for a bible based over view. However it was our laws that gave us our freedom. They believd in God-given rights which they identified as life beieved in. Faith was always there. Wheather on a document for freedom or a book called the bible. In my opinion I believe we fall them.
ReplyDeleteEthnic labels shouldn't matter, but to some they do. I always always tought that we are the same no matter the skin color, religion or where we are from. We live in America, the only lable we should have is "American." I think the reason why we lable ourselves is because we seem to be at a higher level than the other. If we were to all lable one another it would be all wrong to begin with. That is if you don't know where your actuall ancesters were from.
ReplyDeleteI think it does matter because it defines who you are and were your from. I think the term native American is the correct term to use because they are native to our land and the first ones here using the term "Indian" makes it seem like all of them are from India when there not. I think the reson why we label eachother is because we want to no were people are from were more comfortable as knowing who one another is.
ReplyDeleteSelinaHayes<3